People have long intuitively felt that in this portrait created the brilliant Leonardo, there is some kind of secret. It’s not for nothing that disputes about whose portrait the artist actually painted are still raging. In 1502-1506. Leonardo da Vinci painted his most significant work - a portrait of Mona Lisa, the wife of Messer Francesco del Giocondo. Many years later, the painting received a simpler name - “La Gioconda”. The name “La Gioconda” became conventional, as many had doubts about the identity of the woman depicted in the painting.

In the 16th century Giorgio Vasari, Leonardo’s compatriot, author of the famous “Biographies of the Most Famous Painters, Sculptors and Architects,” could not explain why the artist did not give Francesco del Giocondo a portrait of his wife. Since then, many hypotheses have appeared, the authors of which are trying to answer the question: who is depicted in the picture? The most interesting is the hypothesis of American researchers, who came to the conclusion that the portrait depicts Leonardo da Vinci himself. A similar conclusion was reached as a result comparative analysis self-portrait of the artist and La Gioconda using a special computer program. Other researchers, comparing “La Gioconda” with portraits of noble persons of that time, with other paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, gave her different names if they suddenly discovered a portrait resemblance. The most famous among them: the Duchess of Francaville; Philibert of Savoy, Isabelle d'Este, courtesan; Signora Pacifica, lover of Giuliano de' Medici and even Blessed Virgin Maria.

But Leonardo, of course, did not paint his self-portrait under the guise of the Mona Lisa, who actually posed. Otherwise, he would have been caught and ridiculed immediately next to the portrait, since it would have been easy to compare the original with his image. Even Raphael great artist, who, despite his youth, was allowed into the picture, did not notice anything like that.

To unravel the mystery of La Gioconda, it is necessary to note at least two strange fact biography of Leonardo da Vinci.

1. Leonardo did not paint himself.

Not a single picturesque self-portrait of Leonardo has reached us. Only a drawing made a few years after the creation of La Gioconda is known. What is the reason for Leonardo’s dislike for his appearance?

2. Leonardo had no family.

There is not a single evidence that he loved any woman (apart from tender feelings and a hint of platonic love to Cecilia Gallerini, mistress of Lodovico Moro). And this despite the fact that Leonardo was stately and handsome, strong and courageous, courteous and educated.

Why did Leonardo never fall in love with a single woman?

To answer these questions, let's first look at early childhood the artist and the history of the da Vinci family. Leonardo's father, the notary Ser Piero da Vinci, owned an estate in the vicinity of the town of Vinci in the Tuscan Alban Mountains. Here, in the mountains, he met Leonardo's future mother, a girl named Katerina. She was a simple peasant woman - strong, healthy and beautiful.

Ser Pierrot was 25 years old when Catherine gave birth to Leonardo in 1452. “Immediately old Antonio (Piero’s father), writes one of Leonardo’s biographers, “in order to knock the fool out of Katerina’s head and calm his conscience, he married his son to the Florentine Albiera from the Amadori family and, unleashing a thick purse, persuaded young man Piero del Vacca, nicknamed the Bully for his hot temper, marries the beautiful deceived Caterina.”

So Leonardo, barely having time to be born, was separated from his mother. Already at the age of five, he began to notice that some woman was relentlessly watching him. It was Katerina, his mother. He often met her while walking. Katerina usually stood at one of the houses in the village and looked at Leonardo with a sad smile.

From the point of view of classical psychoanalysis with high probability It can be assumed that the boy has a so-called Oedipus complex, which consists of love for his mother and the desire for incest with her, with simultaneous jealousy and hatred towards his father.

In the case of Leonardo da Vinci, most likely this particular complex took place, and if not in full, then at least partially. The image of Katerina, a beautiful peasant woman, was imprinted in Leonardo’s mind from childhood. For Leonardo, she remained simply Katerina even when he learned in Florence that Piero Zadira’s wife was his mother.

In Leonardo's notes we read: “Katerina came on July 16, 1493.” He stubbornly refused to call her mother.

Deprived of his mother since childhood, Leonardo could not fully feel what his sons’ love for her meant. But he loved this image. He was in love with his own mother. That's why he never loved another woman and didn't have a family. That's why he didn't paint self-portraits. Leonardo was very similar to his mother. As soon as he painted himself, the features of his mother would appear on the canvas, but only in a male form. In essence, the result was an image of his ideal, his idol, but in a grotesque form. Given his condition, it is easy to understand that it was difficult or impossible for Leonardo to endure this.

Constantly under the burden of a complex, Leonardo could not help but want to paint a portrait of Catherine. He clearly remembered the features dear to him. However, to paint a picture worthy of his idol, a picture where Katerina would be as if alive, he needed a model. Apparently, Mona Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo, looked like or resembled Caterina. Only one thing is known for sure: the artist did not paint her portrait to order.

Leonardo deliberately made friends with Messer Francesco del Giocondo and himself offered to paint a portrait of his wife. What else, besides portrait resemblance, could attract the artist to the Mona Lisa? She smiled sadly. Mona Lisa at this time was still recovering from the death of her daughter. The sad smile of the young woman revived in Leonardo’s memory the smile of Katerina, his mother, whom he had already buried by that time.

Leonardo undertook to paint a portrait of his wife Mona Lisa for Francesco del Giocondo and, after working on it for four years, left it unfinished. Under the guise of painting a portrait of Mona Lisa, Leonardo painted a portrait of Catherine. Having a living model in front of him, the artist transformed the sketchy image of Katerina stored in his memory into a living image. “Indeed, in this face the eyes had that shine and that moisture that we see in a living person, and around them there was a bluish redness and those hairs that are impossible to convey without mastery of the greatest subtleties of painting. The eyelashes, thanks to the fact that it was shown where they are thicker and where they are thinner, and how they are located around the eye in accordance with the pores of the skin, could not be depicted more naturally” (Giorgio Vasari).

Leonardo used the Mona Lisa as a decoration material. In fact, La Gioconda is Katerina with the skin of Mona Lisa. For four long years, spending, according to some estimates, at least 10,000 hours, with a magnifying glass in his hand, Leonardo created his masterpiece, applying brush strokes measuring 1/20-1/40 mm. Only Leonardo was capable of this - it was hard labor, the work of an obsessed person.

When the portrait was ready (not counting the landscape), the Florentines recognized the woman depicted in the painting as the Mona Lisa. They attributed some discrepancy between the portrait and the original to the artistic vision of the author, because portraits often did not convey the model with photographic accuracy, but, on the contrary, embellished it. Therefore, everyone recognized the Mona Lisa except her husband.

Francesco del Giocondo realized that the portrait did not depict his wife. But he didn’t know that this was Katerina, whom Leonardo looked like in his younger years. It is this circumstance that explains such a strange at first glance result of a comparative computer analysis of La Gioconda and a self-portrait.

Having completed the portrait, Leonardo immediately left Florence. He took the painting with him, since it was of great value only to him. For 16 years - until the end of his life - he did not part with the portrait, constantly kept it with him and did not show it to anyone.

And one more interesting fact. Later, after leaving Florence, Leonardo painted the background of the painting. This Mountain landscape. These are mountains that could not be more suitable for Katerina, and not for anyone else. These are the mountains in which she was born, this is her world.

Leonardo da Vinci, secretive and brilliant, hid the secret of La Gioconda deeply.

Mona Lisa is the most famous work V art world, which was created by himself famous author- Leonardo da Vinci. This is a legendary work of art, which is shrouded in hundreds of secrets and unsolved mysteries, which captivates the minds of many researchers and ordinary uninitiated viewers.

There has always been an interest in creation, but it became especially acute in last years after the release of the novel “The Da Vinci Code” by Dan Brown, as well as films based on this book. And now you will learn about the most incredible and interesting facts about Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.

Facts about Mona Lisa

The prefix Mona means “Madonna” or “milady”, and Lisa is just a name.
The identity of the man in the painting has forever remained a mystery. Some researchers are inclined to think that this is a self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci in female image, however, most people consider the Mona Lisa to be the 24-year-old Lisa Geraldina, also known as Lisa del Giocondo, who was the wife of the merchant Francesco del Giocondo. It is also possible that this is a portrait of the artist's mother.
In 1956, an emergency occurred at the Louvre. Hugo Ungaza threw a stone at the portrait, causing damage to the masterpiece near the left elbow of the Mona Lisa.
How much do you think this painting is worth? Hundreds of thousands of dollars? Millions? Billions? No! She is priceless! And that is why the masterpiece is still without insurance.
Interesting Facts about Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, it is necessary to add that the woman depicted in the picture has no eyebrows. It is not known for certain why this happened. It is believed that the eyebrows were erased during one of the restorations in the Middle Ages, since then it was fashionable to completely remove eyebrows. There is also an opinion that the picture is deliberately unfinished by the author.

The painting is located in a special room in the Louvre. This room was created for 7 million dollars specifically for the Mona Lisa. The masterpiece is located under armored glass, and the required temperature is maintained using a computer and a complex system of sensors.
The Mona Lisa was completed at Amboise Castle in France around 1505. According to one hypothesis, Leonardo da Vinci is buried in this castle.
Microscopic numbers and letters are drawn into the pupils of the Mona Lisa. They can only be seen with the help of special equipment. This is believed to be the date the painting was completed and the initials of the artist.
The Mona Lisa is considered one of the most disappointing attractions. There is so much noise and legends, but when you come to the museum, it is hidden under glass, and so far from you... just a painting...
A special wave of popularity for the Mona Lisa arose after the abduction. On August 21, 1911, the painting was stolen by Vincenzo Perugio, an employee of the Paris museum. During the investigation, the management of the Louvre was fired, and the famous people, such as Pablo Picasso and Guillaume Apollinaire. The resulting painting was discovered on January 4, 1914 in Italy. After this, several exhibitions were held with her, and then she was returned to Paris. The motives for the crime are not known for certain; it is likely that Perugio wanted to return the masterpiece to Leonardo da Vinci’s homeland.

A lot of great works were created by artists in different eras. Madame Lisa del Giocondo, depicted more than five hundred years ago, is surrounded by such fame that it is perhaps the most celebrated work in the absolute sense of the word. There is no exaggeration here. But what do we know about the life that Lisa del Giocondo led? Her biography will be presented to your attention.

Family

Antonmaria di Noldo Gherardini - Lisa's father, twice widowed. In his first marriage he was married to Lisa di Giovanni Filippo de' Carducci, and in his second to Caterina di Mariotto Rucellia, both of whom died during childbirth. The third marriage took place in 1476 with Lucrezia del Caccio. The Gherardini family was ancient, aristocratic, but impoverished and lost its influence in Florence. It was quite wealthy and benefited from the income of farms in Chianti, which produced olive oil, wine, wheat and livestock were grown.

Lisa Gherardini was the eldest child and was born on June 15, 1479 on Via Maggio. She was named after her paternal grandmother. Besides her, the family had three sisters and three brothers.

The family, living in Florence, moved several times and finally settled next door to Piero da Vinci, Leonardo's father.

Lisa's marriage

On March 5, 1495, when the girl was 15 years old, Lisa married Francesco di Bartolomeo del Giocondo.

She became his third wife. Her dowry was modest and consisted of 170 florins and the farm of San Silvestro, which was located near country house Giocondo family. One might think that the groom was not chasing wealth, but simply fell in love with a modest girl from a family that did not have a significant fortune. In addition, he was much older than his young wife - at the time of marriage he was 30 years old.

What did the Giocondo family do?

These were silk and clothing traders. In addition, Francesco del Giocondo owned farms that were located in Castellina in Chianti and San Donato in Poggio, next to two farms that later became the property of Michelangelo Buonarroti.

Francesco began to rise higher on the social ladder and in 1512 was elected to the Signoria of Florence.

He probably had connections with the political and commercial interests of the powerful Medici family, because when the Florentine government feared their return from exile, Francesco was fined 1,000 florins and imprisoned. However, he was released when Medici power was restored.

Family life

Mrs. Lisa del Giocondo lived her life in peace and harmony with her husband. She raised his son with his first wife, Camilla Rucelai. Lisa's stepmother, Katerina and Camilla were sisters.

Lisa del Giocondo raised her own with her marriage social status, since the family she joined was significantly wealthier than her own. Eight years later, in 1503, Francesco bought for his family new house in Via della Stafa, next to his old house.

On the map of the historical center of Florence, the house where Francesco and Lisa lived is marked in red, and the houses of Lisa’s parents are marked in purple. Initially they were located on the north bank, closer to the Arno River, and then in the south on the other coast.

The couple had five children: Pierrot, Camilla, Andrea, Giocondo and Marietta. Subsequently, Camilla and Marietta will be tonsured as nuns. Camilla, who took the name Beatrice when she was tonsured, died at the age of 18 and is buried in Santa Maria Novella. Marietta took the name Louis and became a respected member of the monastery of Sant'Orsola.

Diseases and deaths

In 1538, Francesco died when a plague epidemic came to the city. Before his death, he ordered that his dowry, clothes and jewelry be returned to his beloved wife: Lisa del Giocondo, as a faithful and exemplary wife, should be provided with everything.

The exact date of Mrs. Lisa's death has not been established. There are suggestions that she died in 1542 at the age of 63. Another date for her death is approximately 1551, when she was 71-72 years old. She is buried in the Convent of Saint Ursula in Florence.

Order a portrait

Like most Florentines who lived during the Italian Renaissance, Francesco Giocondo's family was passionate about art. Messire Francesco was friends with Piero da Vinci. His son Leonardo, before returning to his native Florence in 1503, wandered around Italian cities for a long time.

Through his father, they convey to him a wish that he paint a portrait of a young Florentine woman. Here he begins work on the portrait of Mona Lisa. "Mona" translates to "lady". Leonardo worked on it for many years. Vasari writes that he continued the work for four years, but perhaps even longer. How to find out who painted the Mona Lisa? This can be done by reading the Lives of Giorgio Vasari. This is a generally recognized source trusted by all art historians. Unfortunately, most Russians do not have the opportunity to visit the Louvre, where the world's largest famous portrait. If you look at the original, then all questions about how to find out who painted the Mona Lisa will disappear by themselves.

A work of genius

What exactly is its magical effect and incomparable popularity? It seems that the picture is extremely simple. She surprises by the absence bright colors, luxurious clothes, as well as the discreet appearance of the model herself. All the viewer’s attention is focused on the close, arresting gaze of the young woman, which constitutes the intrigue and main attraction of this image.

The more we look at Lisa, the more we desire to penetrate the depths of her consciousness. But this is an extremely difficult task. The model sets a precise line that the viewer cannot overcome. This is one of the main secrets of the image. A smile and a look, that is, a face, are the main thing in a portrait. The position of the body, hands, landscape and much more are details that are subordinate to the face. This is Leonardo's magical mathematical mastery: the model is with us in certain relationships. She attracts and at the same time closes herself off from the viewer. This is one of the wonders of this portrait.

Lisa del Giocondo: interesting facts

The surname Giocondo translates as “cheerful” or “joyful.”
The painting cannot be called a canvas, since it is painted on a wooden board made of poplar.
We see the figure and the landscape from different points of view. The model is straight, the background is on top.
There is no single point of view regarding the landscape. Some believe that this is Tuscany, the Arno River valley; someone is convinced that this is a northern, mysterious Milanese landscape.
Over the centuries, the coloring of the painting has changed. Now it is uniform, brownish. The varnish, which turned yellow over time, interacted with the blue pigment and changed the color of the landscape.
Repeatedly returning to work on the portrait, the artist moved further and further away from the real model. The creator put all his ideas about the world into a generalized image. Before us is a symbolic idea of a person in the harmony of his mental and spiritual properties.
The portrait, like all works by Leonardo, is not signed.
The painting does not have an exact value. All attempts to evaluate it have not led to the same result.
In 1911, the work was stolen. The police found neither the painting nor the thief. But in 1914 he voluntarily returned the work.

Leonardo da Vinci's painting "Mona Lisa" is the first thing tourists from any country associate with the Louvre. This is the most famous and mysterious work of painting in the history of world art. Her mysterious smile still makes people think and charm people who do not like or are not interested in painting. And the story of her abduction at the beginning of the 20th century turned the picture into a living legend. But first things first.

The history of the painting

“Mona Lisa” is just an abbreviated name for the painting. In the original it sounds like “Portrait of Mrs. Lisa Giocondo” (Ritratto di Monna Lisa del Giocondo). WITH Italian word ma donna translates as “my lady.” Over time, it turned into simply mona, and from it the well-known name of the painting came.

Contemporary biographers of the artist wrote that he rarely took orders, but with the Mona Lisa there was initially a special story. He devoted himself to the work with particular passion, spent almost all his time painting it and took it with him to France (Leonardo was leaving Italy forever) along with other selected paintings.

It is known that the artist began the painting in 1503-1505 and only applied the last stroke in 1516, shortly before his death. According to the will, the painting was given to Leonardo's student, Salai. It remains unknown how the painting migrated back to France (most likely Francis I acquired it from the heirs of Salai). During the time of Louis XIV, the painting moved to the Palace of Versailles, and after French Revolution

The Louvre became her permanent home.

There is nothing special in the creation story; the lady with the mysterious smile in the picture is of greater interest. Who is she? According to official version , this is a portrait of Lisa del Giocondo, the young wife of the prominent Florentine silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo. Very little is known about Lisa: she was born in Florence into a family of nobility. She got married early and led a calm, measured life. Francesco del Giocondo was a great admirer of art and painting and patronized artists. It was his idea to order a portrait of his wife in honor of the birth of their first child. There is a hypothesis that Leonardo was in love with Lisa. This can explain his special attachment to the painting and

long time

work on it. This is surprising, practically nothing is known about the life of Lisa herself, and her portrait is the main work of world painting. But Leonardo’s contemporary historians are not so clear. According to Giorgio Vasari, the model could have been Caterina Sforza (a representative of the ruling dynasty Italian Renaissance that era), Cecilia Gallerani (the beloved of Duke Louis Sforza, the model of another portrait of a genius - “Lady with an Ermine”), the artist’s mother, Leonardo himself, a young man in women’s clothing and simply a portrait of a woman who was the standard of beauty of the Renaissance.

Description of the picture

The small-sized canvas depicts a woman of average size, wearing a dark cape (according to historians, a sign of widowhood), sitting half-turned. Like other Italian Renaissance portraits, Mona Lisa has no eyebrows and the hair on the top of her forehead is shaved. Most likely, the model posed on the balcony, as the parapet line is visible. It is believed that the painting was slightly cropped; the columns visible behind were fully included in the original size.

It is believed that the composition of the painting is the standard portrait genre. It is painted according to all the laws of harmony and rhythm: the model is inscribed in a proportional rectangle, the wavy strand of hair is in harmony with the translucent veil, and folded hands give the picture a special compositional completeness.

Mona Lisa Smile

This phrase has long lived separately from the picture, having turned into a literary cliche. This main mystery and the charm of the canvas. It attracts the attention of not only ordinary viewers and art critics, but also psychologists. For example, Sigmund Freud calls her smile “flirting.” A special look"fleeting."

Current state

Due to the fact that the artist loved to experiment with paints and painting techniques, the painting has become very dark by now. And strong cracks form on its surface. One of them is located a millimeter above Gioconda's head. In the middle of the last century, the canvas went on “tour” to museums in the USA and Japan. to the museum fine arts them. A.S. Pushkin was lucky enough to host the masterpiece during the exhibition.

Fame of Gioconda

The painting was very highly regarded among Leonardo's contemporaries, but over the decades it became forgotten. Until the 19th century, it was not remembered until the moment when the romantic writer Théophile Gautier spoke about the “Gioconda smile” in one of his literary works. It’s strange, but until that moment this feature of the picture was simply called “pleasant” and there was no secret in it.

The painting gained real popularity among the general public in connection with its mysterious abduction in 1911. The newspaper hype around this story gained enormous popularity for the film. She was only found in 1914, where she was all this time remains a mystery. Her kidnapper was Vincezo Perugio, an employee of the Louvre, an Italian by nationality. The exact motives for the theft are unknown; he probably wanted to take the painting to Leonardo’s historical homeland, Italy.

Mona Lisa today

“Mona Lisa” still “lives” in the Louvre; as the main artistic figure, she is given a separate room in the museum. She suffered from vandalism several times, after which in 1956 she was placed in bulletproof glass. Because of this, it glares a lot, so seeing it can sometimes be problematic. Nevertheless, it is she who attracts the majority of visitors to the Louvre with her smile and fleeting glance.

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“Mona Lisa”, “La Gioconda” or “Portrait of Mrs. Lisa del Giocondo” (Ritratto di Monna Lisa del Giocondo) is the most famous picture Leonardo da Vinci and perhaps the most famous painting in the world. For more than five centuries, Mona Lisa has hypnotized the world with her smile, the nature of which many scientists and historians are trying to explain. According to the latest data, the portrait was painted between 1503 and 1519. There are two versions of the painting by Leonardo, the earlier one is in private collection, painted later - in the Louvre exhibition.

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"Mona Lisa", "La Gioconda" or "Portrait of Lady Lisa del Giocondo" (Ritratto di Monna Lisa del Giocondo) is the most famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci and perhaps the most famous painting in the world. For more than five centuries, Mona Lisa has hypnotized the world with her smile, the nature of which many scientists and historians are trying to explain. According to the latest data, the portrait was painted between 1503 and 1519.

There are two versions of the painting by Leonardo, the earlier one is in a private collection, and the later one is on display at the Louvre. According to one version, Leonardo’s model was not Lisa Gherardini, but the artist’s student Salai, whose image can be found in many of Leonardo’s paintings, but most historians still agree that this is a portrait of Lisa Gherardini (Lisa del Giocondo), the wife of a Florentine merchant Francesco del Giocondo.

"Mona Lisa" was one of the selected works, with which the painter himself did not part. Some experts consider La Gioconda the quintessence of not only da Vinci’s work, but also his worldview and philosophy.

Other versions

The mystery of the Mona Lisa

Today, anyone can order a portrait for themselves at an affordable price. However, just a few decades ago, only fairly wealthy people could afford such a luxury.

During the Renaissance, it was considered prestigious when a person could order his portrait from an artist. Such a service was quite expensive, and therefore its presence in the interior emphasized the high social status of a person and convincingly indicated his material wealth.

Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, also known as La Gioconda, is rightfully considered the most recognizable portrait in the world. Every year thousands of people from different countries come to Paris and visit the Louvre to see this masterpiece for themselves. Leonardo Da Vinci left the world not just a portrait of a woman, but a riddle. The genius did not leave any records about his work, but many art historians unanimously agree that the artist began work on creating the portrait in 1503. There is a hypothesis that the painting was commissioned by a wealthy Florentine merchant who traded in silk fabrics, Francesco del Giocondo and his wife Lisa. However, for unknown reasons, the portrait was not delivered to the customer.

Researchers suggest that the portrait was created in honor of some event. It may have been commissioned by Francesco del Giocondo to decorate the new house he purchased in 1503. Or maybe the painting was painted in honor of the birth of the second child in the Giocondo family, Andrea, who was born in December 1502, three years after the death of his daughter in 1499.

The history of the creation of the portrait still remains a mystery. There is still no sufficiently reasoned version of what kind of woman is depicted on the canvas and whether she really existed. According to contemporaries, Da Vinci never parted with him and even took him with him to France to the royal court. Only when he was dying, the artist was forced to part with the portrait, giving it to his friend and patron, King Francis I, who subsequently added the canvas to his personal collection.

The mysterious smile of the Mona Lisa has become the subject of inspiration for many creative people. At first glance at the portrait, it seems that its heroine is smiling coquettishly, but if you look closely, you can see that there is not even a shadow of a smile on the woman’s face.

Is the Mona Lisa smiling or not? Partly. This is exactly the answer to this question given by most famous art researchers who have been studying the painting for many years. They suggest that when a viewer looks at a portrait, he first of all pays attention to the eyes of the Mona Lisa, and everything else, including her mouth, is in the area of peripheral vision. Seeing with peripheral vision, a person does not clearly distinguish details, but can see black and white colors, as well as shadows and movement. Therefore, because of the shadows on the Mona Lisa’s cheeks and the corners of her mouth, it seems that her lips are raised in a half-smile.

Of course, the perception of certain emotions, as well as beauty, depends on the viewer, so no one can say with certainty whether Mona Lisa is smiling in the picture or, on the contrary, is in melancholy.